Lack of local beer brands drives residents of Hong Kong to start making their own

HONG KONG -- Rohit Dugar moved to Hong Kong from New York three years ago and quickly realized that he didn't like any of the beer there. So he decided to make his own.

He quit his job at Goldman Sachs and late last year opened his own microbrewery, Young Master Ales.

In doing so, the 34-year-old from New Delhi and his brewmaster partner Ulrich Altbauer joined a growing number of "craft" beer makers — small volume, independent breweries — aiming to save Hong Kong from drowning in a sea of industrial, imported lager.

"We're trying to discover what Hong Kong's brewing culture should be like," said Dugar, pulling beers for a line-up of punters at his stall on an overcast afternoon at Hong Kong's Beertopia craft beer festival — an event that aims to bring local and regional breweries to a wider audience.

"We want to do a few classic styles, do them well, earn our stripes as a brewery. As long as we keep doing that the local beer scene will grow," said Dugar.

"When people realize that something has potential, things tend to move quickly here in Hong Kong."

Young Master Ales currently produces 15,000 liters per month. Its seven beers range from a 5.0 percent "Classic" amber pale ale to an 11.5 percent brew aged for six months in a whisky barrel, giving it complex rye, oak and malt notes.

The grain is imported from Germany, while the hops come from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Dugar says he also uses locally sourced herbs and spices.

Young Master is among four new brewing operations to start up business in Hong Kong in the past year, with each one aiming to develop world-class beers that speak to their home city, while an increasing number of bars are dedicating taps usually dominated by mainstream beers to more artisanal tipples.

In its third year, the Beertopia event is seen as a barometer for a growing local microbrewing industry that has been spurred on by Hong Kong's elimination in 2008 of duty on wine and beer.

The city's high-end bars and buzz-worthy restaurants are increasingly paying attention as local beer makers try to convince them to look beyond the big industrial brands.

"Beer doesn't have to be yellow, fizzy and bitter," said Jonathan So, who set up the Beertopia event in 2012.

Estimated to make up four to five percent of beer sales globally, craft beer has steadily been gaining traction around the world.

The United States leads the way with around 2,700 craft breweries, which have been credited with helping prevent stagnation in its otherwise flat market dominated by giants such as Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev, best known for perennial best-seller Budweiser, Britain's SABMiller and Canada's Molson Coors.

In Asia, Japan is home to more than 200 microbreweries, and a scene is growing in South Korea too, while Singapore boasts 12 breweries of its own.

Now momentum in Hong Kong is gathering, with more brewers getting involved.